Nonfiction Text Features: Diagram Lesson

Teaching and studying nonfiction is one of my favorite units to expose my students to.  I love that we get to take all of the foundational reading skills that they have developed and blast off to the next level of learning.  We are no longer just reading to enjoy books, but we are reading to LEARN and grow as learners.
This past week, we spent time learning about diagrams and captions.  These two features are packed with information so we spent several days really diving into them.  Much of our nonfiction reading has been done through National Geographic Kids and Hameray Publishing.  They both have an immense library of nonfiction readers that are perfect for my firsties.
For this particular lesson, we used Penguins from National Geographic Kids.  The students worked in teams of 4 to read and discover 4 traits that make penguins unique.

The focus was not on the entire book, but just on the diagram of the penguin.  Students worked to read and summarize their findings.  They took turns recording their discoveries in a 4 box.  You can grab a copy of it here.  I also included a general version that could be used with any other animal or plant diagram.

What is one of your favorite nonfiction text features to teach your students about?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

Joy Cowley Classroom Giveaway

It is my favorite time of year!!  It is Joy Cowely Giveaway Time!!!  

Click the image to enter

The Joy Cowley Classroom Giveaway by Hameray Publishing is here! One lucky classroom will win an entire set of Joy Cowley Collection leveled readers (60 books), Joy Cowley Early Birds lower-leveled readers (45 books), all of her newest big books (34 big books), a set of finger puppets, and more!

Click the image to enter

These books pull in even the most reluctant readers with their humor and whimsy. Your students will clamor to keep reading about their new friends: Mrs. Wishy-Washy, Hungry Giant, the Meanies, and more. Recurring characters make them reach for the next book, and playful storylines lead them to finish it. All books in this package are written at guided reading levels C–I. Read more about the books included here.

This contest is closing February 28, so enter now! Winners will be announced March 1.  Be sure to tell your teacher friends to enter, this is not a giveaway you want to miss out on.

Click the image to enter

Who is your favorite Joy Cowley character?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

A Recipe And A Read Aloud Linky: February 2017

A Recipe & A Read Aloud is a monthly linky party where you post your favorite read aloud (or book you are reading) and recipe on your blog. Then, you come back and link your blog post up at the bottom of this post in the linky tool. 

Grab the button at the end of this and link back to this post on your blog.

I am keeping it real with this month's Recipe & A Read Aloud.  I feel like I aways keep it real, but right now I am EXTRA real.  Life has been BANANAS (I just sang the Gwen Stefani song to check the spelling of that)!  

I love to cook, or at least of used to love to cook.  I still make dinner every night, but I am not trying new recipes like I once did.  Being a parent and working full time in no laughing matter.  I am exhausted when I come home, but a healthy meal is a must.  I am one to whip up some veggie-meat concoction and call it good, so I have no fancy recipe for you.  *Side note:  I am not looking for fancy recipes.*  However, there is a recipe on repeat, in our house, right now, and the fact that little man can help make it is key!
I love that he wants to help in the kitchen, I think that it is so important that he sees that man or woman you have a space in the kitchen.  I HATE gender bias and I don't want them in my son's world.  So, enough with my soapbox rant, this is our favorite recipe right now and goodness they are YUMMY!
Gluten/Dairy Free Muffins

They are straight from Bob!  If you haven't used any of Bob's Red Mill product line, I recommend you get on it.  They are based here, in Oregon, and they are AMAZING!  
This GF muffin mix is so good and by using almond milk and canola oil it is easily dairy free.  We always add some berries or ripe bananas.

 I never know how much fruit actually makes it into the batter.  This kiddo loves to help by eating all the ingredients before they make it into the oven.

As you can see, they barely make it out of the muffin pan without one disappearing.

My Read Aloud So my read aloud fits with this idea of a world free of gender bias.  It is Violet the Pilot, by Steve Breen.  It is a fabulous story of a little girl that loves to tinker and build.  Everyone thinks she is "weird" because of this, but it doesn't bother her.  She sets out to build a flying machine to be a part of the air show, but never makes it because she just so happens to save a bunch of lives instead.  This story is all about growth mindset and proves that girls are POWER HOUSES!

If you don't own this book yet, grab it, love it, and share it!  It is a story everyone needs in their live. 


What is your favorite read aloud this month?  Is there a recipe that everyone needs to try?  Grab this image and link up.  The InLinkz will be open until the 10th of each month.

Don't forget that you can always link up on Instagram.  Just grab the image below and use the #SFTBRR.

Sunday Sanity Saver: Laundry Saved!

This week is all about saving your laundry from those inevitable stains that we all know too well.  First off, why don't more parents warn you about kid stains and the amount of laundry that would be added to your daily/weekly chores?  Since having my son, I swear my washing machine doesn't stop.  I am not one for super fragrant detergents and I made my own laundry soap for quite a while, but stain removal continued to be an issue.  Even more of an issue was the amount of clothing that got thrown away due to oil based stains that never cleaned up right.  I had just about had it until I stumbled across a random pin, on good-ole Pinterest, and decided to give it a whirl.  I have since played around with it and today I have for you the GREATEST DIY stain remover!!!
All you need is: Dawn dish soap, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and an old toothbrush.
Start by finding a garment that makes you want to shed a tear.  I was so upset that I had only gotten one wear out of this beautiful top, from Paizlee.  Little man thought that shaking his oily hands at dinner was a great idea; it was cute until the oil was all over my new top and not his hands.

Drizzle Dawn dish soap on all the stained areas.

Sprinkle baking soda over the dish soap.  I always use too much baking soda, but it doesn't hurt the recipe.

Next, coat the baking soda in a layer of hydrogen peroxide.  You want just enough to create a thick paste.

Use the toothbrush to gently work the paste into the stains.

Let this stain remover sit on the garment for an hour and then wash it normally.
Finally, wear your favorite piece of clothing again!  I posted this picture after using this incredible and easy stain remover.

I figured if it worked on the delicate fabric my top was made out of, it was worth a try on little man's stain-ridden clothing.  I followed all of the above directions TWICE, yes, two times, and look at the before and after.

I am still shocked as to how well it worked.  Yes, it really is the same onesie!

What are your tips for keeping up for laundry and attacking all those crazy kid stains?  Leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you.

Word Recognition with Letter Buddies

Teaching word recognition to developing readers can have its ups and downs.  I swear there are days when my kiddos are on it, they are recognizing all their sight words, and then POOF! the next day it is all gone.  I decided to try out the Letter Buddies series, from Hameray Publishing, with my developing readers.
According to Hameray, "This product line supports the development of letter knowledge and early literacy skills through letter recognition and formation, letter-sound correspondence, phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, and oral language development." I couldn't agree more with this statement.  Right away my readers started building letter recognition that they struggled with prior to using this series.

First of all, I love that the letters on the covers of the books are printed in a raised text.  My kiddos were able to "feel" the letters before diving into the books.  By using their kinesthetic sense, we began building a muscle memory that is vital for learners.

So each Letter Buddy has a book and a starter that go hand-in-hand.  We started with the letter books and practiced our letter and whole word recognition.  This allowed my readers to begin connecting the inital letter throughout the book.

After spending time with the letter book, we reviewed the words, generated a few more, and started gaining more letter and sound connections.  It was amazing listening to my readers as they inquired about their learning.  One of my students, who has really struggled with letter recognition, asked "Why do all the words have red letters?"  This is HUGE!!  He took his learning past letter recognition to word recognition.

Once my readers showed an understanding of the letters and their sounds, we dove into the starter books.  These pattern books take the words that students practiced in the letter books and place them in an early reader.  These pattern books allow for students to continue to build on their letter and word recognition, while gaining fluency and accuracy with more sight words.
I am so excited for my readers and the skills that they have gained.  I cannot wait to use the Letter Buddies Blends Books with them!

Have you used Letter Buddies with your readers?  What are your favorite resources for teaching letter and word recognition?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

Sliding Number Lines

Number lines are one of the most used manipulatives in my classroom.  My kiddos are great about knowing which tool they need to support their leanring, but these sliding number lines have been their go-to recently.
The perks to this tool is the kinesthetic approach that is brings to counting.

Students start their bead at the first addend or subtrahend and then move up or down based on if the problem is addition or subtraction.

The number lines are also a snap to put together.  Just print, on card stock for durability, laminate, hole punch, and attach a pipe cleaner or string with the bead.  TADA!  You have the perfect tool for your mathematicians!

You can grab the template here.  Try it out and let me know what your kiddos think in the comments.

Wacky Links: A Maker Space MUST!

I could not have been more excited to see this box on my front porch!!!

You guys, my students and I have gone WACKY for Wacky Links!  These DIY kits are the perfect addition to any maker-space, STEM bin, art extension, or for just plain play.

Wacky Links encourage kids to use their imagination and explore their creative side.  What parent and teacher doesn't want more of that in every child's life?!?!  The DIY kits provide open ended fun for every kiddo!

The kits are comprised of colorful tubes that you can cut, bend, and connect to an assortment of pronged charms.  The tubes are way more durable that I was expecting.  They are designed to create a bit of suction onto the prongs making it like a Chinese Finger Trap.  This is perfect so your kiddos don't have to worry about their creations falling apart.
My students loved diving into the kits and watching some of the Wacky Links YouTube videos for inspiration.

I let them play and explore and then gave them the task of creating a guitar with the Rock n' Roll Kit.  They definitely struggled at first, but that was the fun of it.   The conversations and problem solving that took place were a teacher's dream!

These have become a staple during our morning STEM bins, early finisher time, and Friday STEM builds.

You can find Wacky Links in specialty toy stores, on Amazon, and Walmart.com.  Lucky for you, I am gifting one of my readers two sets.  To enter, comment below with your answer to the following question, don't forget to include your email address:
Why is creative play important for ALL children?

**One random winner will be chosen on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at 12:00pm PST.  The winner will be notified by email and announced here.  CONGRATULATIONS, Sara!  I sent you an email with all the details.  If you didn't win, don't fret!  You can grab Wacky Links at the links I listed above. **

Have you tried Wacky Links?  I would love to hear from you; comment below.

Sunday Sanity Saver: Cranberry Pork

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Rachel, from The Tattooed Teacher, for my amazing series logo!  Isn't she so talented?!?!?
I am so excited for #SundaySanitySavers to help you as much as they have helped me.

Today's post is all about the CROCKPOT!  Yup, that amazing device that was created to help moms, especially working moms, everywhere!  Even better than busting out the crockpot is being able to toss 4 ingredients in it and have dinner ready 6 hours later.  Without further ado....

Cranberry Pork

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 - 3 lb bone-in Pork Shoulder
• 1/4 c dried minced onion
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 can of whole cranberry sauce

Place the pork shoulder in the crockpot.  Cover with onions and honey.  Pour the can of cranberry sauce around the pork.

Set the crockpot for 6 hours, on LOW.  Then, leave it.  Seriously, do not touch it until it is done.

Once the pork has finished cooking, shred with a fork and remove the bone.

This deliciousness pairs perfectly with rice and green beans.

I would love to know if you try this recipe.  It has been on repeat for several months over here.  What is your go-to crockpot meal?  Let me know below in the comments.

Germs!!!

Seriously, if one more student goes home with a fever or because they have thrown up in my classroom I am going to loose it!  I love teaching, but I loathe the germs.  I joke sometimes that I get sneezed on for a living.  All jokes aside, I read this interesting write up and I am hoping it is TRUE!!
Apparently grape juice has super powers I was not aware of.

Real grape juice, none of that sugar added, watered down stuff, has the ability to alter the pH in your intestinal track.  By creating a more alkaline environment the virus is not supposed to be able to multiply in the intestines.  Plus, grapes are high in vitamin C, which we know is great for immunity.
Fingers crossed grape juice is as magical as the science behind it says because we have no room for a stomach bug in our house.

What do you do to keep your immunity up?  Do you have a special remedy for avoiding monster germs?

**I am not a doctor!  This post is my own opinion.  If you have a medical question your doctor would be the one to answer it.**

Running Records In My Pjs

Running Readers' Workshop has its challenges.  For me, one of those is meeting with each of my students everyday.  It unfortunately just doesn't happen.  Thanks to technology, I am able to check in with as many students as my heart desires from the comfort of my couch, while wearing my Pjs.  This is not a joke!  I am completely serious!
There are two tools that I use in my classroom to gather fluency and accuracy data on my students.

Raz-Kids:

This is the digital version of Reading A-Z.  I love it because it doesn't just end at providing each student their own leveled book room, but each book is read to the students.  Once students have listened to the story, they may practice reading it as many times as they choose.  Once students are ready they record their reading.  Finally, there are 5 comprehension questions for each story.
The recordings that my kiddos do are sent to my computer.  I then have the ability to listen to them on my time.
I also have the ability to send them assignments; the readings are then cold reads.

I created this running record form to track students' fluency skills.  We are starting our nonfiction unit this week, so I altered the form to meet our nonfiction criteria of main idea and details.

SeeSaw:
If you don't have a Raz-Kids account SeeSaw is an easy to use app that allows you to keep a record of everything for your kiddos.  One feature is the ability to take video.  Each week, my students choose one book from their "just right" ziplock and video themselves reading it.  Just like Raz-Kids, the video, in this case, gets sent to me.  I am then able to use the same forms to track running records for each of me students.

These two tools have been a game changer for me.  I love that I can knock out 5 running records from the comfort of my couch, after little man is in bed.  But even better is the fact that I have the time to be methodical in my teaching with each of my student's next steps.

How do you find the time to meet each of your student's needs during Readers' Workshop?  Do you have a favorite tech tool that you use to during Readers' Workshop?